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DOES YOUR FARM HAVE AN OUTREACH CENTER?

Never before in the history of Agriculture  has there been such a backlog of farm produce yet to be purchased.  Poultry farmers with lots of eggs unsold, fish farmers with fishes unsold and still consuming feed at the farmers expense. This comes as a result of thelockdown.  Prior to this time, buyers and wholesalers buy large quantities directly from the farm  and also distribute the produce to retailers and or consumers.  However, movement and commercial activities have become  restricted because of the lockddown and stay at home practices.  Cause of the backlog Most offices are yet to resume fully. Children are schooling from home, thanks to online school.  So the sales of some farm produce like eggs are reducing. This is not because there is no demand. But rather due to the fact that demand has moved from its usual location (offices, school ,churches etc) to mostly residential areas.  However, this change may have a...

TRACKING YOUR AGRIBUSINESS EXPENSES.

WHY YOU NEED TO TRACK YOUR BUSINESS EXPENSES?  Due to the human nature, we find it more interesting pleasurable to focus on money coming into the business (cash flow) than how it is been spent.  In business however, expenses are usually incurred during the course of production of goods and services. Therefore failure to track your business expenses can lead to you short changing yourself. Tracking or monitoring your Agribusiness expenses enables you as a business owner to capture all the cost incurred during the course of production of your goods and services from start to finish.  It gives you the full picture of your cash outflow.  This also allows you to know your TOTAL cost of production and eventually your actual cost price. As it is not enough just assume your cost price or even adopt your competitors cost price as your own.  When you track your expenses,you will be able to fix the RIGHT selling price for your agricultural produce or product so...

CLOSED BORDERS : OPEN DOORS.

In the earlier part of the year, I walked into a frozen food store  and asked for the price kilo of Chicken, only for the sales girl to tell me that it is now N1500 per Kilo as against the former price of N1000. Really? I replied. She then went on to tell me that it was as a result of the borders closed according to the Federal government directive. Then I thought to myself why pay for this when I can get a sizeable amount of beef for the same price. Needless to say that later bought beef to make some delicious stew.  I also noticed that more people tend to go for the local substitutes of imported food items With the boarders being closed, Nigerians are being forced to consider and buy more locally made or grown products than ever before. Particularly the Nigerian alternatives of foreign food items that are consumed regularly like rice, frozen chicken etc. It is now a common scene to see people leaving a frozen food store to buy beef from the nearest beef ...

HOW TO ATTRACT INVESTORS TO YOUR AGRIBUSINESS.

Most times as Agripreneurs, when we think of investors, we tend to feel that our potential investor(s) can only come from the ultra rich community. And so we end up missing the immediate potential investors around us. The truth is, often times, your first set of potential Agribusiness investors are already in your existing network (family,friends, relatives, neigbours etc). Some of your friends may not have the cash you need but may already have the item you want to buy with the cash or may have an important contact that can be helpful. However, they may not be willing to go the extra mile for you if they believe you do not have the right approach to your business. As an Agribusiness owner, you always pitching your business to potential investors consciously or subconsciously. How to attract Investors 1.Have a track record of success: Forget about looking for investors. Yes, you are right! You read it correctly. It is not a mistake. Rather channel all your energy and reso...

1 Important factor to consider before getting that AGRICULTURAL LAND.

One of the most crucial factors in agriculture, and yet highly underestimated is water. Many people start out in farming and agribusiness without taking into cognisance the  importance of water. Water is essential for agricultural production, be it crops and livestock farming, or agriprocessing. Infact, when it comes to livestock production and agriprocessing, access to clean water becomes the focus. So before you decide on where to site your farm, here are the following factors to consider with regards to water. 1) Availability of water: are there sources of water(e.g river, wells etc) or is the land so dry that you have to get water from elsewhere? Is water going to be a major challenge because the place is a rented farm settlement where farmers are not allowed to dig or drill their own wells or borehole respectively? if so, what's your plan? 2) Access to water: Even after identifying a source of water, the proximity of your farm to the source can determine your acce...